Navy CIO rolls out new plans for IT, cyber recruitment

The Navy will spend the next few years focusing on enterprisewide IT management, workforce improvement and fiscal efficiency and transparency, according to a memo released by Navy CIO Terry Halvorsen on May 6.

In the memo, Halvorsen says his plans are ambitious and may be tough, but he stressed the need for flexibility as the Navy moves toward better IT integration and management across the department.

“Fiscal realities in the defense community today and in the anticipated future will not support our continued development and delivery of information management, information technology and information resource management as we have in the past,” Halvorsen wrote in the memo. “We recognize that some goals will be difficult to achieve, but they are the right set of initiatives to move us in the direction we need to go.”

The top goals outlined are: 

• Integrated, secure and efficient IT and its management.
• Security of information and proper access for decision-making.
• Recruitment and retention of highly a competent IT and cyber workforce.
• Strategic alignment of IT and cyber capabilities under the enterprise framework.

The memo also provides for better visibility of IT expenditures and calls for the development of several plans to implement all of the ambitious new naval IT goals.

According to Halvorsen's memo, extensive performance metrics will be used to evaluate the plans’ effectiveness on an ongoing basis, and goals and guidelines will be adjusted as necessary along the way.

“While we will spare no effort to accomplish our aims, we will retain the flexibility to respond to emerging challenges and opportunity," Halvorsen wrote. "Therefore, the plan is a living document, which will incorporate feedback and updates as necessary…. We will continue to build and strengthen our collaborative efforts as we execute the plan."